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George's Story Like many atheists, I went to church as a youth, but stopped when I was about 13 years of age. The reason: One hot summer day, I got bored and I read the bible front cover to back cover. To state it succinctly, I found some of the accounts it contained to be despicable, hypocritical, contradictory, and at times, just plain absurd. The pastor of my church discouraged reading the bible in the order in which it was written, stating I'd gain a truer understanding of "god's word" if I read it out of order. That never made sense to me. Now, I can't say I became an instant atheist; my transformation was gradual over the course of the next few years. However, I did consider myself agnostic. But, one incident that occurred in high school made me realize that I was an atheist. A history teacher was giving a lecture on the Scopes "monkey" trial and stated that she did not agree with evolution, which I did. She stated that she was Christian and totally believed the biblical account of creation. I informed her of the numerous inconsistencies contained in Genesis, and we got into a rather heated debate with her throwing her hands up in frustration and switching subjects. After class, she cornered me and asked me if I was an Atheist. Up to this point, I had avoided calling myself the dreaded "A" word simply out of irrational fears. My line of thinking was that agnostics, humanists, and freethinkers were okay. But ATHEISTS? Fuhgettabouit! I'm not one of those! Still, I replied: "Yes, I am." I didn't feel uncomfortable in the least as it turned out. It was fear of the word and fear of the truth. Once I got all that garbage out of my head I was fine. I look back now and think: "Boy, was I an idiot back then!" I've been proudly atheistic ever since. I don't wear my heart on my sleeve mind you, but most of my family, friends, and co-workers know I'm an atheist. They don't agree with it, and I don't expect them to, but they respect it. However, I've heard stories about people being kicked out their homes and even beaten for admitting that they're atheists. I consider myself very fortunate and 20 years later, I am quite happily living in a godless state. from George C., Ohio, USA |
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